On My Own
by AndromedaAI
Summary: Sequel to "Before I Leave This World". Maru finds a strange creature just outside base right before winter hits and brings it back to his hanger. After some convincing, Blade allows her to stay on base, but trying to keep her hidden from prying eyes may prove to be quite a challenge. What is a 'hyoo-man', anyway?
1. Out in the Cold

**So I'm back once again, relishing in the fact that I'm practically writer's block-free for the time being. So, some of you really wanted me to tie up some of the loose ends I _purposefully_ left at the end of _Before I Leave This World_. Well, I'm tugging on one of them, mainly the one about 'What happened to Audra?!' and here you'll find out what happened to her. :)**

**If you're a reader who doesn't have a clue about what's going on and what I'm talking about, please go back and read _Before I Leave This World._ It's a two-shot that introduces who Audra is and why I'm writing her...like this (spoilers, I don't want to tell you about the story yet!).**

**So I hope you enjoy Chapter one of _On My Own_. I'll try to not make it boring, lol.**

* * *

1 -** Out in the Cold **\- 1

The day started like any other day that had come before. It was nearing the end of autumn, and winter was fast on the approach. No snow had fallen yet, but it would be falling soon if the nippy air was anything to go by. Maru was physically prepared for winter, even though, mentally, he wasn't. He never really liked snow, because, at times, it felt like it would never stop falling from the sky.

Unfortunately, he hated to admit that it was also fun to rough-house in. When he had the chance, he would chuck snowballs at his teammates.

On one morning, halfway through November, he exited his hanger and went around to the back, his mind set on gathering some of the chopped wood stored there. It was uncomfortably cold outside, and all he wanted to do was light a fire in his stove so that his room in the repair-bay hanger (he called the entire structure 'his hanger') wasn't so _freakin' cold_.

He reached the backside of his hanger and spotted the pile of wood right where he left it. Good, the Smokejumpers decided not to mess with him this time, then. Though, when he thought about it, the temperature out here was cold enough to keep most sane people inside when they didn't have to be outside. But that thought made him muse, _How sane are some of the Smokejumpers, anyway? _Were they insane enough to brave the cold weather in order to bug him? He settled with rolling his eyes, and decided that he'd just have to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary.

He moved to gather some of the chopped wood up into his forks, when he paused as a foreign sound drifted into his range of hearing. He quieted his engine and listened carefully, the wood suddenly forgotten for now. Why had that sounded like someone groaning?

The sound came again, this time extremely faint. It sounded like it originated from his left. Slowly, he turned to look in that direction, and spotted nothing that the noise could have come from, from what he could see through the trees. But then the noise came again, and he decided to roll forward and investigate. The groaning sounded like it was originating from a little ways off the air base. Maru only stopped long enough to wonder about who could be out there at this temperature before he rolled away from the rear of his hanger and into the trees.

Under his large wheels, the dead pine needles and leaves _crunch_ed, having been made brittle from the frost that now came every morning. He swept his gaze back and forth as he slowly rolled along, being sure not to miss anything. The crunching of the frosty forest flooring set him on edge; and with every, rare, groan, he found himself getting closer to the source.

Several minutes later, he spotted something at the bottom of a hill, several feet away. Maru abruptly halted when it caught his eye. Narrowing his eyes at it, he held his breath for several moments, unsure of what he was looking at. It appeared to be like a pale, sandy-coloured log that was lying on the ground, covered in black, purple, and orange fabric. On one end, black grass-like, stringy stuff seemed to grow from it, and what looked to be a face was located just under that. It moaned faintly, telling him that it was the source of the out-of-place groaning. He slowly rolled over to it, eyes stretched wide as he did so, immensely curious about what he had just found.

Maru came to a stop by this strange…thing, and look down at it. The way its chest rose and fell and the sound of breathing left its mouth let him know that, in some way, it was alive. He poked it gently with the end of a fork to see if it would stir a little. And it did.

The creature's eyes snapped open; wide with pupils practically pin-pricks in a sea of hazel-green. A blood-curdling shriek left its mouth and it shot up, scrambling back and away from him without, strangely, the use of wheels. It braced itself up against a nearby tree and stared at him with a wild look in its eyes.

Maru stared back at it with a startled expression, quite surprised that something without wheels could move so fast. He could see intelligence in its eyes, but the emotions flitting in them were muddled and confused, as if it didn't understand what was going on. But overall, the chief emotion in those duel-coloured orbs was fear.

It made the tug feel like he was suddenly facing a wild and frightened animal. This creature looked like it was willing to attack him, even though it was smaller than him, if he got too close. He held up his forks in what he hoped was a placating gesture, and watched it closely to see what it may do. What was it thinking? Was it even thinking?

Its breathing picked up speed and it held out an appendage (one that he could only compare to as a pitty/tug-fork) in attempts to ward him away. Maru tried to figure out how to deal with it without making the situation worse. He wanted to say something to calm it, not wanting it to go off and hurt itself in its confused state and hoping to reason with it, but it beat him to the punch.

"St-stay away!" it cried in plain English. It waved its fork out in front of it and tried to move away, moving as if it was a car with flat tires moving over rough terrain, and stumbled backwards, away from him. The tug was stunned that the tree-like creature could speak, so all he found himself managing to do was stare at it as it, albeit slowly, got farther and farther away from him.

He stared at it and watched as it stumbled a few more feet away, never taking its eyes off of him in the process. In seconds, its stance became extremely unstable, and it began to wobble violently. Then, with one final stumble over a root sticking up out of the ground, its eyes rolled up into its head and it collapsed to the ground.

Maru didn't waste any time and rushed up to it as soon as it stopped moving. He peered down at it and saw that it had become substantially paler than it had been before it had abruptly come to life and panicked. It looked almost sickly.

For a second, the mechanic wasn't sure about what he was supposed to do. He had never seen something like this…thing…before. Would Blade allow him to bring it on base? The tug blinked and shook himself. He was the medic and mechanic of Piston Peak Air Attack, and if someone needed help, he would help them. And maybe if he managed to nurse it back to health, maybe he would be able to get some answers from it. Like: why was it out here when the sky looked fit to rip open and blast the region with a blizzard? What was it, and where did it come from?

Carefully, he gathered the creature up onto his forks, tilting them up so that he could bend one around it and secure it in his grasp. He then turned and gently carried it back to base, making sure that he didn't jostle it about as he did so. It didn't take him as long to return to the base as it did on his search for the creature in his forks, and soon he was inside his hanger and trying to find a comfortable place to lay the creature down on.

It didn't have wheels to sit on, so would a mat be an uncomfortable surface for it to lie down on? What did tree-like things like to lie on? Lying on the ground with nothing separating it from the concrete under it was out of the question—it was proven so when he found it out in the forest. Seeing it lying out on the forest floor unprotected struck him as odd.

Several minutes later, he had thought of a solution, and he set the creature down on several cloth sacks that had been stuffed with random rags and even spare tarps. Now all he had to do was sit back and wait for it to wake up again, and pray that it wouldn't be as disoriented as the last time when it did.

* * *

When she experienced her first cognitive thought, she realized she was staring at blackness. It felt like she was just waking up from one of the best sleeps she had ever had, even though her back felt a bit sore and her arms and legs felt like they had led weights strapped to them. She sucked in a deep breath of air, and that's when she noticed that something was wrong.

From what she remembered, she had never smelt the smell of gasoline inside her house, and definitely not while she was in her bedroom. She could also smell oil, and the only reason why she knew she was smelling exactly that was from the days where she would step into her father's workshop and smell the oil and gas wafting from the jerry-cans and open oil containers. Her father would always be tinkering with his car pet-project—an old Ford F-150 from the 90's—when she found him working out there, especially after her mother passed away.

She stopped herself there. She didn't want to sadden herself with thoughts of her deceased parents.

She cracked open her eyes, blinking several times to clear the sleep from them before she squinted against the light that was there to greet her. To her, it was too long before her eyes adjusted enough for her to open them fully. And the sight that met her confused her immensely.

The ceiling she was looking up at did not belong to her bedroom. The ceiling above her was metal and was sloped, supported by metal trusses and beams. Was she in her father's workshop? It would explain the gas and oil scent that permeated the place. But she didn't remember falling asleep in the 'shop. Why would she? That's where Nick was staying.

Wait! Nick! Her brother! She shot up into a sitting position, eyes stretched to their maximum width. _What happened to them?!_ she demanded to herself._ How did I get here?! Where are Nick and Damion?!_ And then it hit her, and her panicking came to an abrupt halt. Her heart slowly returned to its normal beating, and her throat relaxed. Something had happened to them, but she was sure they had made it back to Nick's dimension. _But…where am I?_ She took careful note of her surroundings, and was alarmed when she saw where she was.

She appeared to be in someone's workshop—it wasn't her father's, that was for sure. She was sitting on a bed made of what looked to be burlap sacks stuffed with soft…stuff, and it made her wonder about who had decided to make her comfortable while she was out of it. She expected strangers to start leaping from the woodwork any second, and she wasn't sure she was ready to meet them yet. She blinked once and rested her face in her hands, thinking back and trying to remember what had happened right before she had woken up here.

She turned and placed her booted feet flat on the concrete floor. The workshop was huge, so huge that she didn't doubt that an aircraft could fit in it. It was much bigger than the workshop that had belonged to her father—Nick had to practically squeeze to fit inside it. To her left, there was a large metal shelving unit filled with machine parts of all kinds. Right across from the "bed" she had woken up on, there was a workbench, and next to that there was a wall filled with pictures. It felt like a workshop as much as it _looked_ like a workshop.

The part of the wall that was covered in pictures plucked at her curiosity. She wanted to go see what the pictures were of, but the sudden presence of a stranger's voice startled her and caused her to look over in the direction of the speaker.

"Good, you're awake." A blue and silver—was it a forklift?—rolled quietly into the workshop. She was chilled when she saw that it was driving itself, and that its 'windshield' was, instead, its eyes, which sported green irises. Audra didn't know how to process this revelation.

"Since you seem so calm this time around," the forklift continued, "I have a few questions to ask. I need some information so I have something to tell the chief when he returns from 'patrol'. Other than: I found an odd half-wild, half sentient animal out in the forest."

Audra blinked once. A few seconds went by where they stared at each other before she abruptly blurted, "Who are _you_?!"

* * *

**Short chapter is short, I know. But a story has to start somewhere, right? If you liked how it is so far, tell me how! I'll understand if you don't though. :3**


	2. Under the Microscope

**I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, I went through a long bout of procrastination where I tried to put all fanfic writing on the back-burner and focus on preparing for Camp Nanowrimo April. But I pulled through and you have a new chapter! I hope you like. :3**

**Review replies are at the bottom!**

* * *

2 – **Under the Microscope** – 2

All Audra wanted to do was curl up into a little ball and vanish. She had never pegged herself as a shy individual, but the feeling she was feeling at that moment couldn't be anything else.

Standing before her was a stranger, a living machine she had never seen before. Of course, she had only ever met one sentient machine in person, and she had only seen others on the TV back on the farm. This machine was a large forklift that, even though he wasn't all that much taller than her, still managed to dwarf her in size. She gave it a careful once-over with her eyes, and took note how the forklift's right fork bent in two places. Who was this guy?

"The name's Maru," the forklift said before he rolled over to the metal shelving unit and lifted something off of one of the shelves. He took the tray of random knick-knacks over to the workbench and settled it on it. "So…do you have a name?" Audra watched as he reversed and faced her once more. "Or do all members of your kind go around without names?"

She could only manage to lift an eyebrow at the 'lift's sarcastic comment. Several seconds later, she managed to say, "Audra…Audra Wellington is my name…" her voice was quiet. The presence of a strange machine was unnerving her—she wasn't expecting to ever see another one before she…died. This whole situation seemed wrong to her. She was supposed to be either dead or dying. She could remember something hitting her right after her brother and Nick went on their way. It could have been anything from a wild animal attacking her while she wasn't paying attention to…to…

Audra cringed. She was going to die. She didn't know where she was, and she was probably going to die alone, surrounded by people she didn't know. Were there more machines than just this forklift? What were they going to do with her? Were they going to lock her up and leave her to rot because she was different?

"Oh, so you _do_ possess a name," 'Maru' stated sarcastically. He continued to look at her, and it made her feel as if she was a bug being examined under a microscope. The silence stretched on and on, as if the forklift expected her to keep speaking, and that made her extremely uncomfortable. The forklift blinked once, and then twice, his focus never wavering from her.

Finally, she could not stand it any longer. "What else would you like to know?" she asked, desperately trying to keep the exasperation from her voice. "I'm a sentient being, I don't like to be stared at." _I'm not a specimen to be scrutinized. I just want to be left alone._

'Maru' blinked in surprise and rolled backward about a foot. "Uh…"

Audra didn't want to be seen as weak, and she didn't want to make the same first impression on this forklift like the one she had done with Nick. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed with how she froze then, even while she felt like she wanted to melt into the floor in order to escape from the curious gaze of this machine. Would answering his questions make him go away?

It took several minutes for Maru to start asking questions. Audra could only guess that he was just as shocked at the sight of her as she was of the sight of him. "What are you?" he asked.

She blinked. She had been expecting that question, and she figured that it couldn't hurt to have to answer it first. "I'm a…human."

"Are all…hyoo-mans like you?"

She sighed. "No." she paused. How was she supposed to explain this to him? She had never considered _how_ she would explain what humans were to someone who wasn't human. A situation like this was not supposed to happen. It was supposed to only happen in movies. "Every…human is different, they all have different appearances. There are male and female humans. I'm a female."

_Please do not ask any embarrassing questions,_ she pleaded silently. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that this machine did not know what was considered _private_ to a female human being.

The 'lift gave her an once-over and hummed to himself. "Alright then," he said after a pause. He rolled backwards before turning towards the shelves again, scooping some more parts off of a shelf before he deposited them on the workbench as well. "Where did you come from?" he asked curiously after a few moments. He fiddled with something in his forks and kept his 'back' turned to her. "Is there some hidden town filled with humans somewhere that we don't know about?"

Audra bit her bottom lip and thought about his questions, relieved that he had decided not to question about human biology for the moment. She sincerely hoped he wasn't interested in that sort of thing. Once she figured out what she wanted to say, she replied. "My world is called Earth—that is, I come from another world, and this one isn't my home," she said calmly, clamping down on her raging emotions in order to speak clearly and not mumble. "I…don't _think_ there are any other humans here." she didn't mention her brother—she didn't want any attention brought on him if he had made it over. She wasn't even sure this was the same world as the one Nick was from, but she wasn't going to take any chances.

He turned with a tray on his forks and offered her a small, but toothy grin. "Well, at least now I have something to tell the chief. I haven't exactly told him that you're on base," he stated as he rolled to the door.

"Chief? Base?" where had she ended up? The chill air coming in through the open door reminded her of the temperature the air often took during the evening hours at the farm, but where exactly was this place? Did the cave, which seemed to be a portal of some sort, throw her at random and she had just ended up coming to this area? "What is this place?" she managed to ask.

"You're at Piston Peak Air Attack, kid," the 'lift said before disappearing outside. Seconds later, she heard him audibly voice his physical discomfort at the temperature with a 'brrrr'.

_Piston Peak Air Attack?_ Audra mused. _What is that?_

* * *

Maru carefully made his way across the tarmac and over to the main hangar, where he knew the chief of the Air Attack team, Blade Ranger, was parked, waiting for the coffee pot to finish brewing a fresh pot of tank-corroding coffee. He had heard him come in just as he finished speaking to Audra. Maru rolled up to him and set the tray on his forks down on a nearby box. "Hey, Blade?" he said, grabbing the Augusta's attention.

"What is it, Maru?" Blade asked, never taking his icy-blue eyes off of the coffee-maker.

The tug glanced about the hanger, noting that no one had joined Blade inside. "I found something that you might want to see," he said. "You'll have to come back to my hanger though. I don't want anyone else hearing what I about to tell you just yet."

"This better not be some form of trickery that'll get me into your shop for a check-up, is it?" the black, red, and white helicopter noted with suspicion.

"It isn't," Maru assured him.

Maru lead Blade back to his hanger and closed the hanger door behind them once they were inside. It was considerably warmer inside compared to the outdoors, and the tug couldn't help but sigh in relief as his plating warmed.

The sound of shuffling drew their attention to their left, where the reason why Maru got Blade huddled herself as close to the stove as she possibly could without burning herself on the hot metal near the door. Maru watched as Blade's eyes widened in incredulity before narrowing in suspicion.

"What…is _that_?"

The young woman turned her head sharply away from the entrancing orange glow that emanated from within the stove, and gave a narrowed look out of the corner of her eye. She turned and looked at the two, her eyes widening considerably as she took in Blade.

* * *

Audra had thought Maru was big—but seeing a helicopter, a _living_ helicopter, in person made her feel even smaller than before. This helicopter was bigger than Nick, only a little taller than him, and a great deal longer (it was hard to tell from the angle and the lighting, though). She instantly felt intimidated by his presence and the glare he was sending her way. Her flight or fight instinct reared its head, and the muscles in her arms in legs tensed as her heartbeat quickly gained speed.

Thankfully, Maru began to speak, and she was able to get a hold of herself before she did something that might of made her look like some sort of wild animal to this newcomer. "This is Audra, a hyoo-man I found just outside base," he explained. "She was out of it when I found her, but she woke up a little while ago." The tug paused for a short while, and turned to face the helicopter. "Audra's not a 'that'—she's a 'she'," he added gently.

The only response to what Maru said that came from the helicopter was a deep hum.

"Where did you come from?" the helicopter asked her.

Audra found herself shrinking away slightly at the seriousness in the helicopter's tone. Her heart leapt to her throat at all the implications that came to mind if she answered the question. She quickly reasoned with herself that he was not human—but that didn't mean that he would believe her when she told him that she was from another world. Maru didn't openly laugh at or say that he didn't believe what she told him, but that didn't mean that he believe what she said.

_What if they're just leading me on?_ she asked herself, feeling panic reaching up and threatening to tamper with her sanity. _What if, after I tell them, they'll send me off to some zoo or circus for people to come and ogle at me?_ She tried to calm herself down, reasoning with herself that if something like that did happen, she'd find a way to escape and live out in the wild, like the wilderness family on that movie she watched with her family when she was little.

"I'm…I'm…from Earth—a different Earth. I'm from another world." There. She said it. The cat was out of the bag. She couldn't help but brace herself for the helicopter's response to her short reply, and she locked gazes with the him.

The reaction she got was nothing that she expected. The helicopter hummed again, deep and low, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end with how thoughtful and scrutinizing it sounded. "You expect her to be able to stay here, on the base, until…when?" the helicopter broke the gaze and looked to Maru.

"Until I know she is okay, at least," Maru insisted. "And…she needs a place to stay. I've never heard of, or have ever seen a hyoo-man before—have you ever seen a hyoo-man before?"

The helicopter gave him a look. "No."

"Well, what do you think some less than desirable vehicles would do if they found her? She's an alien—they'd dissect her, pick her apart piece by piece and study her—"

"Enough, Maru," the helicopter practically barked, stopping the 'lift's words in their tracks.

Audra stared at Maru, her heart feeling as if it had turned into a ball of ice in her chest. She had forgotten about that possibility. Dissection.

"We can't keep her here," the helicopter stated gravely. "Someone might see her."

"Well, where _else_ is she going to go? She won't be able to survive in the _park_," Maru scowled, a sarcastic tone riding his words. "A lot more people would spot her there than they would up here. The only person who comes up here nowadays is Cad, and only when he needs to complain."

Audra didn't say anything as the two talked it out. She hated being the object of anyone's conversation—especially heated ones like this one. And this was all because she was different from everyone else here. _If I was a vehicle, this helicopter would just send me on my way. I'd probably have my own home, and I wouldn't have to fear the fact of moving around in public._

Eventually, the two reached a conclusion, and the helicopter set his searching gaze on her once more. "You can stay here, but only for as long as you need to," the helicopter said to her. "And while you're here, make yourself useful. We don't need to waste any resources on individuals who won't pull their own weight." And with that, he turned and rolled out of the hanger, the door opening to make way for him, and then closing sharply behind him with an air of finality.

Audra's heart felt heavy now that the helicopter, who was apparently the 'chief' Maru mentioned earlier, was gone. The way the chief spoke to her made it sound as if he viewed her as some sort of liability, which was something she never wanted to be for anyone. She had spent the last few years being independent and being able to take care of herself and her brother. She knew the chief didn't know her well enough to know that she could be a great help wherever she was needed (and with jobs she had the skill to complete), but it still felt like a blow.

After a few seconds, without turning from the door, Maru quipped, "Well, that's Blade for you. Straight to the point, and gruff as anything."

_Blade, huh? Must be a common helicopter name here. Nick's friend was named Blade, too. _"He doesn't have to worry about me for long," she sighed, causing him to turn and face her. "It's not like I'm going to be alive for much longer, anyway."

The 'lift's eyebrows rose in alarm. "What do you mean?" he asked warily. "Do hyoo-mans have short life-spans, or something?"

Audra shook her head before she sat down and crossed her legs. "Humans can live to be over a hundred years old," she told him. "Back in my world, the oldest person was about a hundred and fifteen. I'm only nineteen." She reached up and rubbed her face with a hand, trying to keep herself from bursting into tears as she felt them press up behind her eyes. "I…I've got a terminal illness humans can get called cancer, and it's in my lungs. Lungs are what humans use to breathe." She looked up at Maru and bit her bottom lip. "I never had the money in order to go and get treatment for it, because I could never find the health-plan that I could afford to cover it. And on top of that, I had a little brother to take care of…"

Maru rolled a little closer, a mix of apprehension and curiosity in his eyes. "This cancer…can your kind get it in other places…other than the 'lungs'?" he asked slowly, carefully.

Audra nodded. "Cancer is caused by one cell that refuses to die, and it mutates. It can travel around a person's body until it stops somewhere and multiplies. You can get it anywhere in the body—skin cancer, brain tumors, anywhere. The cancer in my lungs makes it hard for me to breathe and humans need to be able to breathe or we die."

"Did you know how close you are to your…death…before you came here?" he asked.

The tears came pouring down her cheeks at that question. "L-less than a-a month."

At her answer, the quiet puttering of Maru's engine stopped. Audra pulled her bony-knees up to her chest and wrapped her thin arms around them before pressing her face into her knees, no longer able to look Maru in the eye. _It was hard enough to tell Nick that…but to tell a stranger? What was I thinking?_

* * *

**I was a little iffy about ending this chapter here. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was fun to write once I broke through the procrastination I often suffer from. I'll start working on the next chapter right away.**

**BulletTheF150:** I'm so glad you're liking this. I've long awaited writing this story because I've always wanted to present my interpretation of 'a human in the World of Cars'. Thanks so much for the compliment! It gives me a lot of encouragement, and it encourages me to write more! :D

**Knockouts Apprentice:** Thanks so much! I will definitely be continuing this. I'm glad you're liking it! :3


	3. What to Do?

**I really felt like slamming my head against my desk the whole time I was writing this, all because of how insecure I can be with my writing sometimes. I thought I was doing horribly with this chapter, but when I re-read it after I finished it, I saw that it turned out okay.**

**Note: A 'bobcat' is a nickname for a skid-steer. That's what my family and the people I know call them since a majority of the skid-steers we see around where I live are Bobcat name-brand skid-steers. :3**

* * *

3 – **What to Do?** – 3

Maru decided after some thought that it would be best that Audra lie down for a while, and she agreed with him, even though her curiosity was starting to itch annoyingly at the back of her mind, tempting her harshly with the thought of exploring outside the hanger.

She moved the burlap sacks closer to the stove and made them as comfy as possible before she lay back down on them. For the next couple of hours, she lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, where she lost herself to her thoughts. She folded her hands behind her head and let out a gusty breath.

_I'll make sure I help around here…but how long will it take before I can't do anything anymore? Before I came here, I could barely do anything. It's not like the air wasn't clean on our farm…how clean is the air here? If the people here are sentient machines, how much pollution is in the air?_ She chewed on that thought for a bit, wondering how it was possible for the air to smell so clean even though there were probably over six to seven billion vehicles on this Earth (if the amount of vehicles were equal to the amount of humans on her Earth). _Maybe…the trees here are stronger than the ones on my world._ She was pretty sure, if that wasn't so, no one would be able to breathe here. Not even the machines. Probably.

One thing she found herself unable to stop thinking about was Nick and Damion. She missed her brother more than she could have ever believed, and a part of her wished that she had appeared where they had, so at least they could be together. _I wonder what they're doing right now… They probably think I'm dead now, and I bet Damion is trying to man up and not cry._ She felt tears coming to her eyes, but she forced them back, not wanting to burst into tears again. She was just recovering from the emotional drain the last bout of crying had put upon her, and she didn't want to feel that crappy again.

_Maybe a walk might help me calm down and figure something out._ She rolled off the 'bed' and got to her feet. Strolling to the door, she pressed the paddle next to it with her foot and ducked under the door as it rose. It closed behind her, and she was left standing in the cold. She was thankful for her jacket, which she zipped up to her chin in order to conserve body heat. She shoved her hands into her pockets so that heat couldn't escape from them and make them cold before she began to walk along, sticking close to the hangers on her side of the tarmac. She didn't want to stray out onto the tarmac and then get run over by someone.

The air was crisp and clean, telling her that fall was about to end and winter was quickly on its way. A quick glance up at the sky told her that it was overcast and looked ready to unload some snow. Each short puff of air that left her mouth crystalized, forming a small cloud. Would her jacket be enough to keep her warm all winter? Was she going to even last that long?

She took a deep breath to test how her lungs were fairing that day. She hadn't woken up on that bed of burlap sacks coughing up a lung, so she assumed she was having a good day. Clean air rushed into her lungs, spreading a refreshing feeling throughout her body, from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Strange, she hadn't felt like that from a simple breath for…for a long time.

She couldn't help but smile. "Boy, I must be having a _really_ good day today," she told herself before the sound of revving engines reached her ears and she tensed. She whipped her gaze about to see where it was coming from, trying to stay calm. She was going to be staying on base for who knows how long, and she was going to be helping out, so she was going to be seen by the others on base. There was no need to hide. But why did she feel so nervous? So shy?

Walking a bit farther ahead, she came to a gap in the hangers just in time to watch as a yellow bobcat, with a scoop-claw on its front, leapt from what appeared to be a ramp made of dirt with a cry of delight. Audra shielded her face from the dirt kicked up from the bobcat's treads as the machine slammed to the ground, sounding like he was voicing his victory.

Audra blinked and brushed the dirt from her face, and looked over to where the bobcat landed. She started when her gaze met the bobcat's blue one.

The bobcat was gawking at her, unmoving. It was such a change from what she had seen as he had leapt from that ramp. Audra felt her heartbeat accelerate when he continued to stare at her, and she was anticipating the screaming to start any time soon.

She swallowed thickly before she opened her mouth. "H…hi…"

The bobcat blinked once before a curious look came upon his face. "What are you?" he asked bluntly.

Audra bit her bottom lip, finding herself slightly thrown off guard with the lack of screaming. "Um…" she started shakily. "Well…my _name_ is Audra Wellington." She always thought it was good to start with your name. "And I'm…a human."

The bobcat crawled closer. Audra wanted to step back so that the machine was no longer in her bubble of personal space, but she fought against the urge as he stopped only a foot away from her.

Several tense moments passed as they held gazes. She couldn't help but be surprised and relieved at the same time when the machine smiled. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a strong female voice.

"That's Drip." Audra turned to the speaker as she pulled up beside the bobcat. She appeared to be an ATV of some sort, yet was not much smaller than the bobcat beside her, and she was painted yellow with white and red strips running down her sides. "And I'm Dynamite."

* * *

Audra had quickly found herself introduced to what was called the 'Smokejumpers' team, and was practically surrounded by them and their curious gazes. She quickly began to feel claustrophobic to the point she actually had to ask some of them to back up and give her some space.

She was introduced to Blackout, a bobcat with a saw attachment on his front, a bulldozer named Avalanche that didn't seem to possess an "indoor voice", and Pinecone, the only other female on the team. Audra was glad they were not afraid of her, but their questions quickly became ridiculous, and she found herself beating a hasty retreat to Maru's hangar.

The young woman was happy that five more people knew she was here, and she was glad they didn't freak out about the fact that she was an alien (to them). But what bothered her was that they, mainly the boys, were more interested in _what she was_ than where she came from. It made her rather uncomfortable.

* * *

Maru found Audra sitting on her 'bed', staring listlessly into the middle-distance. He rolled up to her and asked, "Feeling better?"

The human blinked and returned to reality at the sound of his voice. She paused, taking in his question, before she nodded and said, "Yes." and then she surprised him by saying: "I met the Smokejumpers."

The tug was surprised, but before he could respond to that, she continued. "Dynamite and Pinecone were okay, but Drip, Blackout, and Avalanche were making me claustrophobic with how close they were sitting to me, and I was pretty sure Avalanche was going to make me go deaf in one ear with how loud he was talking." she sighed. "At least they didn't scream, 'It's an alien! Kill it! Kill it!'" she added wryly.

"That's the Smokejumpers for you," Maru said. "Drip, Avalanche, and Blackout tend to get on my nerves quite often, so it makes sense you felt that they were in your space. They don't know what's not good for them, but that's how they are."

Audra sighed out her nose. After a few moments, a small smile crawled onto her face. "Well, at least one good thing came out of the walk that took me to where I met the Smokejumpers," she stated, gathering Maru's curiosity. "I could breathe deeply."

* * *

The next day, the base woke up to find that about a foot of snow had fallen from the sky. Audra stepped to the door as Maru opened it, and stared out onto the base, watching as Avalanche and Drip raced by, plowing the snow.

The human sighed, wondering about what she could do around the base that would be helpful. She didn't have the strength to lift heavy things, but maybe she could fix things?

A loud, blood-curdling shriek sounded from across the tarmac, interrupting her thoughts. Drip and Avalanche didn't stop plowing, and no one else was outside or seemed to care about why someone was screaming on base. Curiosity piqued, Audra left the safety of the hanger and crossed the tarmac. She walked quickly to the hanger that the scream had come from as more screams escaped out its open door.

When there was a break in the screaming, Audra knocked on the wall next to the doorway. "Hello?" she called, trying to keep a firm hold on her emotions as her heart leapt to her throat at the prospect of meeting another stranger.

Her greeting was replied with a loud scream that sounded like the word "spider".

Audra bit her bottom lip and entered the hanger to see what was going on. _How big are the spiders here? Hopefully not too big._ She swallowed hard. _I don't even know which state I'm in, but if I'm in a hot, muggy, place, I heard they could get pretty big._ It wasn't very muggy here up in the mountains, and it was winter, but still.

She was met by the sight of a yellow, female, double-prop plane practically shaking as she stared at a corner with wide green eyes. Audra followed her gaze with her own and spotted a little black…was that a motorcycle? She blinked, and then crossed the room over to where the little motorcycle was. It tried to flee, but she easily caught it and held it up.

It reminded her of the Can-Am Spyder bikes she used to see around the town the farm was situated near, and she had once fantasized about owning one when she was younger. Each of the little spyder's headlights was an eye, giving it an eerie appearance, but it only had three wheels, had no legs, and it didn't look nearly as gross or terrifying as the spiders back in her world.

She turned and walked from the hanger before tossing the spyder down between the hangers. She wasn't a big fan of spiders, period, no matter where she was or what they looked like—she had had arachnophobia for as long as she could remember. She understood why the plane had been shaking in her metaphorical boots.

A few seconds later, the plane slowly rolled from her hanger, looking to her as she asked, "Is it gone?"

Feeling much braver than she was when she came to the 'rescue', Audra turned and grinned as she matched the plane's gaze. "Yep, it's gone. And it won't be coming back—hopefully," she said.

The plane rolled up to her, the tension melting from her frame. "Well," she said, chuckling weakly in a way that told Audra that the way she reacted to the presence of the spyder had embarrassed her immensely. "Thank you. The boys often leave me to get rid of them, they stopping helping me after the first five times."

Audra couldn't help but laugh, and was surprised when she could still breathe when she stopped. "Okay, well, I'm glad I could help." She then jumped into introductions. "I'm Audra Wellington, I'm the…um…human Maru found outside the base. And you are…?"

The plane practically squealed. "So you're the hyoo-man Maru was talking about over coffee this morning? Wow! Are all hyoo-mans not scared of spyders and look like trees?"

Audra's eyebrows crawled up her forehead, quite surprised how energetic this plane was. But the way the machines pronounced 'human' and how she was compared to a _tree_ irked her. "Do I _look_ like a tree?" she quipped. "And no, not all humans can take on spyders where I come from. From where I come from, spiders don't even look like that—they have eight legs, bulbous bodies, and countless eyes." She paused to take a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Anyway," she said, trying to change the subject while also trying to keep herself from being riled up by innocent questions, "What's your name?" _Let's see if she can get over her excitement to answer that question this time…_

"Oh, oh! Sorry," she looked sheepish. "I'm Lil' Dipper, but everyone just calls me Dipper."

Audra genuinely smiled at that, and she found she had to resist the urge to hold out her hand instinctively for a handshake, since the plane didn't possess any hands herself. "Hello, Dipper, it's nice to meet you. I'm going to be staying on base as long as I need to—which is who-knows-how-long. I'm trying to meet most of those who live and work on this base, so that when I'm helping Maru with stuff, someone won't go 'It's an alien! Kill it!' when they catch sight of me."

Dipper actually laughed at her alien comment. "That sounds like a plan. Do you need any help?"

"That'd be nice," Audra said. "I've managed to meet the Smokejumpers and the chief, but I nearly had a mental breakdown when the male members of the Smokejumpers started crowding me during introductions." she sighed. "That leaves…the forklift I saw in the tower, the big grey plane I noticed by the main hanger…and the big green helicopter."

"Oh, that's Patch, Cabbie, and Windlifter," Dipper told her.

Audra thought it was nice to know their names now, but she couldn't help but feel intimidated by the thought of introducing herself to the bigger two named. But maybe Dipper could tell her something about Patch, Cabbie, and Windlifter. She felt like something a 'clicked' between them, and she felt that they would probably become good friends. "What are they like?" she asked.

Dipper ended up telling her in great detail about what they were like and what their personalities were like. By the time Dipper was finished, Audra felt that she probably could approach them now that she knew what they were like. But that didn't mean that she would do so. Patch sounded like she was a sociable individual, but Cabbie and Windlifter appreciated their space, so she probably would be able to introduce herself to Patch, but she would let Cabbie and Windlifter come to her if they were curious enough to inquire about who she was.

The young woman was happy to know that, at least, no one would scream and panic if they saw her on base (those who weren't part of the Piston Peak Air Attack team and lived off base probably would). The members of the team were probably mellow and brave enough because they, according to Dipper, were part of a firefighting squad, and faced many a fire and tragedy out in the park.

Maru and Dipper seemed to accept her, but she didn't know what Blade or the Smokejumpers thought of her. She just hoped she could make herself useful around here.

* * *

**Knockouts Apprentice: ** Thanks! :D

**Guest (is that you, BulletTheF150?): **How do you like how Dipper reacted? With her, it felt like I was treading on new turf due to the fact that she acted like a crazy fangirl for the majority of _Fire &amp; Rescue_. But I've always seen her as the accepting type. She's a very compassionate person. Thanks for the review! :)


	4. A Disaster in the Making

**And I'm back with another chapter! I can't believe how many chapters I've churned out this month. This hasn't happened in over a year XD I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

4 – **A Disaster in the Making** – 4

It didn't seem to take long for Maru to figure how she could be useful. Audra soon found herself up on one of the hangars, battling her fear of heights as the tug passed up the necessary tools and supplies. Audra gripped a baggy of rivets in her teeth as she found herself rushing to keep up with the flow of items being passed up by Maru.

One of the tools was a rivet gun designed to be used by forklifts. It was bigger than what she expected, and she soon realized that if she wanted to operate it, she'd need to use both hands. But she had never operated a rivet gun before, and she didn't know what to expect.

Her thoughts were quickly interrupted when Maru passed up a sheet of metal that was almost as big as she was. She had to stand to her feet and bend down to grab it. Vertigo nearly claimed her as she hoisted the metal sheet up and onto the roof. She stumbled back and fell into a sitting position in the snow in order to save herself from pitching over the edge.

"Alright, can you see the problem spot up there?" Maru called up from his position on the ground.

Audra glanced around as she rose to her knees, and it didn't take her very long to spot the area where the water was leaking into the hangar below. The snow there was almost completely gone, and was located near the chimney where the leakage was reported to be coming from inside. Crawling over to it, she cleared the remaining snow off of it and made sure there was enough surface-area exposed for the metal sheet to be placed upon it. She leaned down and took a look at the metal roof, seeking any weaknesses, and when she did, she said, "I think I see the problem! There's a crack in one of the seams up here." She sat back on her heels and turned to look in Maru's direction, even though she couldn't see him anymore. "I might not be an expert, but shouldn't the metal plate be _welded_ to the roof instead of being fastened by rivets?"

"Don't worry, the rivets will make a water-tight seal," Maru assured her.

The young woman sighed. "Alright…" she said quietly before she got to work. Positioning the metal sheet over the problem area, she held it in place with her knees as she began to nail the rivets into the sheet and roof. She had never used a rivet gun before, so it took several tries before she got the hang of it and managed to place the rivets in a straight line.

Half an hour later, the sheet was fully riveted to the roof, and she couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Her shoulders were sore from the effort, but it somehow managed to make her feel more alive in the process. She felt like she had purpose in her life once more, even if it was going to be for a short time. _I'll make sure that I won't be a burden, so at least they'll remember me._

She held onto the rivet-gun's extension cord and let it slowly slip through her hand as she held it over the edge. When she saw that Maru had it in 'hand', she let go of the cord and gripped the baggy of leftover rivets in her teeth once more before she slipped down from the roof. She hit the ground heavily and sank to her knees because she didn't land correctly.

"Good work," Maru said once she recovered. "Hopefully it won't leak there again."

Audra nodded silently in agreement. Her mind was elsewhere, though. Death was always on her mind, and it wouldn't leave her until it claimed her. _Nick, you better be taking care of Damion,_ she thought as Maru lead her to the next task. She couldn't help but admit to herself that her heart ached at the thought of never getting to see her brother again, something that hadn't really occurred to her before she sent the helicopter and her brother on their way. _What if he somehow manages to figure out I came here too? What if he tracks me down and finds out I was buried here?_ Audra had to stop herself from thinking any farther down that train of thought, and was extremely grateful when Maru pulled her off to the side and began to explain what they next task was.

"Okay," he began in a hushed tone. "Cabbie has been avoiding me like the plague because he doesn't want to be roped into being shut up in my hanger for hours. There's a large branch jammed in his left propeller, you see."

Audra knew where this was going. With her eyebrows shooting halfway up her forehead in incredulity, she hissed, "Let me guess, you want me to yank it out for you? Are you crazy?!" She couldn't think of all the things that could go wrong in a situation such as that. For one, Cabbie didn't know her. Sure, he had seen her before—she had caught him watching as she worked on the hanger roof—but that didn't mean he'd let her _stand_ on his _back_.

He waved his forks in what appeared to be a placating gesture. "I know, I know—but he won't let me drive on his back, and he doesn't know you, so you won't be very effective when it comes to distracting him so that the branch can be pulled out, huh? So that's why I'm having you walk on his back while _I_ distract him."

Audra crinkled her nose in response before scoffing and rolling her eyes. "Alright!" she exclaimed softly. "But if something goes wrong and I die, I'm expecting to have my body buried, and the blood that will be spilled will be harder to clean up than any oil that you may have ever had to clean up before."

Maru gave her a sceptical look. "Cabbie isn't one to jump around, kid. Just make sure you grab onto something right after you get it out."

The human snorted once, showing her displeasure at the idea of having to do this. But she had made a promise, so she was going to do it. Though, she was going to pray before she found out how to get on the colossal plane's back.

Cabbie had parked himself by his hangar, under a little canopy, and was wearing what looked to be a pair of massive headphones. Audra gave them a curious glance, wondering why he was wearing them over his 'head' like he had ears under where the headphones were. But after a few seconds, she pushed the questions aside, and told herself that some things were just…different here.

She kept to the shadows and out of Cabbie's line of vision. Most of Cabbie's attention was on a little black box that hung on the side of the building he was sitting next to, so getting to the back of his hangar shouldn't take much effort at all. She crossed the tarmac at the fastest walk she could manage, and her heart was thundering by the time she had put a hangar between Cabbie and herself. She couldn't tell if her heart was galloping away because of exertion or nervousness/fear, but she stopped and allowed herself to take a deep breath before she continued on.

When she quietly stepped behind Cabbie's hangar, she noted the stacked crates and other items she'd be able to use in order to climb to the roof of the Quonset-hut-like hangar. She sent a small prayer heaven-ward, _Dear God, please keep me safe in this hair-brained scheme of Maru's—especially while I climb onto this hangar and then _jump_ onto a living plane's back! …Amen._ And with that, she quietly climbed onto the smallest crate, going slowly in order to remain silent.

Her shaky breaths were the only things she heard as she made her way upwards. She climbed up all the available crates before she risked standing on a wide pole that stuck up from the ground. She then used the thick tread on her boots to stand on a thick seam in the metal that appeared to be from a sheet of metal that Maru must have overlapped and attached to the back wall of the hangar some time ago. She pushed herself up and gripped the edge of the roof as the seam gave her enough height for her to just roll onto the roof.

She was exhausted by the time she lay on the roof, so she gave herself a few minutes to recuperate before she quietly pushed herself to her feet once more. She brushed her bangs from her sweaty forehead as she took a deep breath of fresh mountain air. _Maru is lucky I'm not having any problems breathing lately. I'm pretty sure I would give myself away if I starting coughing up a lung right now,_ Audra thought. For a second, she was confused as to why she wasn't suffering from the cancer at the moment, but then she pushed it aside, settling on being happy that she seemed okay for now. _Maybe something happened when I was transported here, and that's why I'm breathing so good?_ She wasn't going to gather any hope, though. She wasn't 'out of the woods' yet.

Audra tore herself from her thoughts and slowly crept to the edge of the hangar Cabbie was near. She glanced down over the sloped edge warily and spied him under that canopy. _Great, I can't jump through that,_ she told herself. _ It would wreck the canopy, and I severely doubt he'd like that. _And_ it would announce my presence right as I land on his back!_ The young woman furrowed her eyebrows and thought hard as she examined the situation. How was she going to get on his back?

Audra looked up and looked in Maru's direction. She gave the tug The Look, and he seemed to get the picture. She crouched down as the tug rolled up to Cabbie and began to talk to him.

"Hey, Cabbie, what are you listening to this time? Be careful, your radio might break in this cold," Maru said, sarcasm riding his words.

Audra heard the plane sigh before something clattered to the ground. She watched as Cabbie backed up a bit and then turned to look at Maru. This action caused him to come almost all the way out from under the canopy while still managing to remain close to where she was on the hangar. His back was exposed, and it was practically underneath her.

She waited for Cabbie to get deep into conversation with Maru and drop his guard. Her stomach twisted a little, reminding her that all she had managed to eat since she arrived here was an apple Maru managed to scrounge up from the main hangar, as she waited for the right moment to jump.

When she saw it, she allowed herself to slide a bit down the sloped side of the hangar, using her hand to guide her as she got closer to Cabbie's back, all the while panicking on the inside because of her acrophobia. When she came to be about five feet above over the grey plane, she jumped.

She landed as lightly as she could, holding in her grunt to the best of her ability as her ankles ached from the impact. She bit her bottom lip in order to keep herself from groaning at the pain that seemed to encompass her ankles, feet, and halfway up her legs from the action. She let out a sigh of relief when the throbbing began to subside.

Audra stood from her crouch and tip-toed towards Cabbie's wings. She wondered about how sensitive a plane's wings were as she came up to his left wing. She refrained from looking to Maru as she willed herself to walk as lightly as she could towards the large engine mounted on the wing.

She crouched as she neared the engine, glancing over at Cabbie's 'head'. She knew she was in Cabbie's peripheral now, and she hoped against all hope that he was focused enough on Maru to not be paying any attention to his peripheral vision. She slowly sat down when she reached it and gently hooked her legs around the engine, relying on the skills she gained when she used to ride horses in order to grip the engine when she yanked out the branch and he reacted.

Audra examined the branch and noted how it had wedged itself into one of the air vents near the propellers. The young woman's heart began to thump harder as she eyed the propellers and noted how close her hands were going to be to them when she reached out to the branch. She prayed dearly that she wouldn't lose her hands when she removed the branch, and she broke out into a cold sweat when she couldn't help but think back to that one _Indiana Jones_ movie where the bad guy was chopped up by the spinning propeller blades of a plane…

Sucking in a breath, she slowly reached out, leaning forward as far as she could go. She glanced in Cabbie's direction with wide eyes in order to make sure that he hadn't spotted her yet. He was still talking to Maru, but his interest in the conversation was quickly waning. She had to do this quickly now, she was running out of time.

She gripped the branch with both hands and focused on breathing in and out. Her heart was galloping like a heard of wild mustangs, and she thought she was going to be sick from nerves. She quickly counted down in her head, and with one small thought of _I don't wanna die_, she yanked up on the stick with all her might.

The branch came out easily, but it was apparent that Cabbie had felt it come out. The plane let out a yelp and lurched forward as the blades in front of her spun and knocked the branch out of her hand. Audra screeched as she lost her balance and slipped off the side of the engine. She desperately tried to use her hands to pull her around so that she fell feet-first, but she ended up landing wrong anyway, and she rolled to her back.

Audra lay there stunned, gazing up at Cabbie with hazy eyes. Her shoulderblades shouted at her because of how roughly she rolled onto them, and pain shot up and down her legs. She watched as Cabbie slowly backed up and looked down at her, before fixating Maru with a glare.

Audra knew her legs weren't broken or twisted, for which she was thankful—but she knew she was going to be sore for a while. She thought back to a video she watched when she was younger, and how a pilot dropped from a cotpit window of a passenger jet, falling twenty feet and then still managing to get to his feet and run away before the jet blew up, and figured she was all right. At least she hadn't banged her head too hard on the icy tarmac under her.

She felt really sleepy all of the sudden, as the adrenaline left her system and the pain faded somewhat. She hoped she hadn't got a concussion.

Maru rolled up to her and looked down at her worriedly. "Are you okay, Audra?" he asked.

She licked her lips. "Uh-um…I don't know," she confessed.

Maru glanced up at Cabbie before he picked her up in his forks and drove back to his hangar at a brisk pace. As he set her gently down on her 'bed' of sacks, she said wearily, "Keep an eye on me, Maru. If I fall asleep, wake me up in a bit to see how I'm doing. I might have gotten a concussion." A tired sigh escaped her and her eyes slid shut. She gingerly shifted to a more comfortable position and then was out like a light.

Maru's heart felt heavy. He watched as she slept for a few moments before he turned away and rolled to the door. He gazed outside and watched as life continued on outside. He watched as Blade rolled over to where Cabbie was, and they seemed to talk for a bit. Maru rolled back a bit when Blade turned to look in his direction, the guilt he felt increasing ten-fold.

It was all his fault. Audra could have died because he tried to make a job easier. But he learned a valuable lesson there: humans were significantly more delicate than any machine found on this Earth, and when one voiced how dangerous something was from their point of view, you better listen to them.

* * *

**Knockouts Apprentice:** Aw, thanks! ^^

**quarsarsmom:** Well, there was some action in this chapter pertaining to Cabbie. I don't know how much of an in-depth look of Dipper's view of Cabbie (at least) that was, lol. We'll be getting a better face-to-face meeting between Audra and him in the future, I promise :3 I'm glad you're liking this so far!

**BulletTheF150:** Thanks :) Dipper is a tricky character to write, and I guess I'll have to just learn how to write her. I think she's not as hyper when people (such as Dusty) aren't around, but she's still hyper. I'm trying to find her 'voice', so it's kind of touch-and-go. I'm glad you like how I wrote her though! :D


	5. Enter: Cad Spinner

**Hey guys, sorry for the long wait. I was stuck on this chapter, and I couldn't figure out how to get around it. But I figured it out. I'm getting the feeling that the chapters are coming out more episodic thank I like. I'm going to try to tie it all together, I promise. Sorry for the chapter being shorter than normal, but there wasn't much to be said this time… *sighs***

* * *

5 – **Enter: Cad Spinner **– 5

There was a cool, but gentle breeze. Goosebumps appeared on her arms and prickled her skin as her green-hazel eyes opened. She inhaled through her nose before she sat up smoothly, feeling more energised than she had ever had before. She got to her feet and grinned as she looked at her surroundings, feeling giddy and fully awake.

Something niggled at the back of her mind, telling her that something about this situation was not right, but she ignored it.

She was in a meadow. The meadow was surrounded on all sides by a dense forest, and snow-capped mountains rose high on the horizon. She grinned wide, and thought, _This place is so beautiful! If I could, I'd have built a cabin right over there._ She looked over at a part of the meadow that rested in the shadow of the trees, and figured that that would be where she would build the cabin. She'd have a nice big fireplace, where she'd sit in front of the fire and watch the flames dance during a cold winter's night.

The breeze played with her hair and caused her bangs to tickle her face, but that didn't bother her all that much. She was too focused on the beauty all around her. _Wait until Damion sees this!_

"Damion, come see this!" she called, even though something told her faintly that Damion wouldn't be there to answer her call.

To her delight, a familiar voice responded a few minutes later. "Coming, Audra!" Rapid foot-falls approached her from behind, and it wasn't long before she found herself being tackled from behind. She let out a playful cry as she was pushed to the ground, and grunted when something heavy landed on her back.

"Get off!" she demanded. She flailed until her attacker got the message, and he rolled off with a laugh. Audra pushed herself and looked at him, her lips stretching into a teeth-bearing smile of joy. Her brother was there, stretched out on the grass laughing his head off as he clutched his abdomen. "Damion!" she exclaimed happily. "You're actually here!"

Damion took a couple of seconds to calm himself down before he said, "I don't give up that easily! I looked for you everywhere, and I finally found you!" he let out a happy sigh as he rolled to his feet. She looked at him and noticed how much older he looked, even though she had sent him on his way less than a week ago. "That base was really cut off from the rest of the world, wasn't it?"

Audra shrugged. "I…guess."

He gave her a quick hug. "So…how have you been feeling? Has your breathing been okay?" he looked at her with a concerned look on his face.

She couldn't help but pause at that question, and bit the inside of her cheek as she thought back to how good she had been feeling. _If I could only keep feeling that good_, she thought wistfully. "My breathing's doing pretty good. It's such a nice change from before."

"That's good…" Damion said, an absentminded tone in his voice.

Audra continued to stare at the clouds, enjoying the sun on her face. She hadn't felt this good in a year, and she was going to take in it all as much as she could. She closed her green-hazel eyes and inhaled the fresh air. She never wanted this to end.

Ominous thunder suddenly rumbled off in the distance. Her eyes snapped open and she looked at the dark clouds building above the mountains. Worry nudged her heart as she realized that there was no shelter for them, and the thought of standing under the trees of the forest during a storm seemed dangerous and unappealing to her. But all thoughts of getting to cover vanished when her brother spoke again.

"That's good, because now I can do _this_!" She felt him suddenly shove her roughly in the back, forcing her to the ground. She rolled over and looked up at him in disbelief, raising her arms instinctively.

Her eyes widened as her brother descended upon her and wrapped his hands around her throat. She gasped instinctively as his fingers tightened painfully until she could breathe no more and she could hear the blood rushing in her ears. She clawed at his hands, but he somehow had an iron grip on her throat. "Why?" she managed to mouth. She didn't understand, she had done her best to take care of him.

"You're asking me _why_ I'm doing this?" he snarled at her, his expression dark and murderous. She never thought she would ever see that expression on his face. He was such a loving and caring boy… "I'll tell you why! Do you _know_ how much pain you put me through?! For the longest time I believed you were dead! But then I suddenly find you, and you are healthier than you ever were! Did you make it up?! _Did you fake having cancer so that you wouldn't have to take care of me anymore_?!"

Audra wanted to scream "no!" but couldn't as she was quickly running out of air. Panic rose and gripped her heart as she mouthed the word and no sound left her lips. She kept trying to speak, even as her vision began to fade and her brother's maniacal laughter faded off into the distance.

* * *

Audra lunged to a sitting position in bed, her clothes soaked with sweat. Her chest heaved with desperate pants, as if she had been dangerously starved of oxygen. She looked about in a panic, trying to pick her brother out in the darkness. Her panic lasted for several minutes before she suddenly came to the conclusion that she was in a familiar place.

That's right, she was in Maru's workshop. That meadow, and her brother…they were just a dream. Her brother hadn't tried to kill her—she was safe.

A shiver wracked her body, and she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Her heart was still thundering in her chest, but there was nothing she could do about that. She focused on breathing in and out and on the amber light emitting from the stove nearby.

Once she had gotten her heartrate back to a normal pace, the sudden scraping of metal on metal sent her heart a-thundering again. She looked over, wide-eyed, in the direction of the source of the noise, and froze in place. Several seconds later, Maru emerged from the shadows, looking at her with wide eyes.

"I heard a scream," he said. "Is there anything wrong?"

Audra bit her bottom lip and looked away from the tug. She was tempted to tell him about the dream, no—_nightmare_ she just had, but…she couldn't bring herself to do it. She just couldn't let it out and bother Maru with it. He had enough to deal with as it was when it came to day-to-day life. And he probably had to monitor her for a good long while because of how hard he had hit her head the day before.

"There's nothing wrong…" she said, quietly. "I just scared myself, that's all. The dark makes me jumpy." she chuckled weakly, trying to wave away his concern.

Maru had a dubious look on his face, and she had a feeling that he didn't believe what she had said. "I could hear you muttering in your sleep. I think we need to talk."

* * *

Maru managed to wheedle the nightmare from her, and she had to fight to keep herself from bursting into tears in front of him. After that, the tug seemed to be satisfied with what she told him, and he left her alone. He went back to wherever he was before, leaving Audra alone in the dark by herself, struggling to keep her mind from going back to the nightmare. She ended up only getting three more hours of sleep before the sun came up and she gave up trying to sleep.

Like she was a member of the undead, she rose from her bed of stuffed burlap sacks and walked to Maru's front door. She came to a stop just outside the hangar and sat down next to the door. Even though she told Maru about the nightmare, it still haunted her and seemed to taunt her from the depths of her mind in short bursts.

_Damion wouldn't do something like that to me…right?_ she thought. _He knows I love him. He knew I thought I would die back on the farm. I didn't know I would be transported here. I didn't _know_._

Her attention was thankfully pulled away from her tortuous thoughts by the sound of a feminine voice announcing over the tower's loudspeaker: "All aircraft, be advised. Superintendent Spinner has entered the base. I repeat, Superintendent Spinner has entered the base."

Audra blinked. Superintendent Spinner? Who was that?

Maru shot outside from within his hangar and screeched to a stop beside her. "Alright, Audra, inside! Don't want Spinner seeing you. I don't want to ever find out what he'd to a human," he told her.

Audra nodded in agreement, briefly thinking back to "Stranger Danger" saying that was popular when she was a child. She quickly climbed to her feet and walked as fast as her tired body would allow back into Maru's hangar. She crouched down by one of the windows beside the door and peeked up over the windowsill as a fancy white SUV came racing up. This must be Spinner.

Back when she was still healthy and was still living on the farm, on Earth, and her parents were still around, she used to have time to watch shows and the news and go peoplewatching. She used to be able to look at a person, examine their mannerisms and speech patterns, and deduce what they were like after a short while. But as soon as she saw Spinner, she knew she didn't like him. He looked too pristine, too put together for someone who was way out here, surrounded by trees and a national park. And his attitude sucked—that was apparent from the moment he opened his mouth.

Audra listened to him talk and watched him closely for what felt like forever. Near the end of his 'visit' she was forced to duck down and crouch low under the window when he glanced her way. She prayed feverishly that he had not been seen her—and when he continued on with his 'conversation' with Blade without it sounding like he was coming any closer, she allowed herself to breath a silent sigh of relief. The last thing she wanted was to be dragged away to die on an examination table.

Spinner sounded extremely selfish, and not someone she would trust to know about her. He didn't leave fast enough, and Audra didn't feel comfortable enough to leave the hangar until almost an hour had passed after he had driven off base.

"What a creep," she managed to comment to the person closest to her, which happened to be Dipper.

Dipper nodded in a way that told her that she agreed with her. "Cad Spinner is definitely not a friend. Did you know that he diverted a large chunk of our budget to the restoration of the Grand Fusel Lodge?"

Audra couldn't help but gasp. She knew she didn't know all that much about firefighting, but she knew that any sort of budget was important to the running and maintenance of the base and firefighters. "No _way_!" she exclaimed. "How _dare_ he!" The restoration of the lodge was not more important than the lives of the firefighters and the well-being of the park. There would be no lodge if there were no firefighters!"

She watched as Dipper nodded in agreement before she firmly decided that she would find it extremely hard to _ever_ like, or not be judgmental of, Cad Spinner.

* * *

**Knockouts Apprentice:** Aw, thanks. I'm glad you liked. It was so fun to write!

**quasarsmom:** Thanks :D

**BulletTheF150:** Yep, that's totally not Maru, lol. Safety? What is this safety you speak of?

**NightshadeAuthoress:** I'm glad you're liking it so much, and it pleases me to know that I'm writing them correctly, or in a way people like. That's the part I'm looking forward to writing so much because it will let me explore a part of Audra's thinking that I find quite intriguing. Should she tell Blade that she knows Nick? Should she tell him that his best friend is alive? Oh, and Nick's picture in Maru's hangar? Those are the topics I look forward to writing the most, lol. Thanks for the review!


End file.
